Big Lunch bites for teachers and youth leaders

This bit is for those of you working with young people - teachers, youth leaders and volunteers who run youth clubs or Scout and Guide groups.

Here you can find out how the Big Lunch can support you in what you already do as well as load of ideas that can help support young people as they get involved with the big day. Lessons, tutorials and youth group activities offer lots of opportunities for our young people to learn loads of stuff while preparing for the big event.

So, what’s the big idea?

According to Natural England, today 62% of children play indoors more than in any other place, yet 42% of adults said when they were growing up, they played out in the local street more than anywhere else. When was the last time you saw kids playing hop-scotch on the pavement? Gone are the days when British Bulldog was played across the street.

There’s loads of reasons why kids prefer to play indoors these days but on Sunday July the 19th we want the young people of Great Britain to get outside, enjoy their neighbourhood and feel part of their community. The lunch and the preparations can provide lots of ways to get our kids off the sofa and connected with the people and places on their doorstep.

What’s in it for me?

We know that if you’re not already stacked with marking, risk assessments or a pile of paperwork you’re teaching or running activities – there’s little time to enjoy a cup of tea, let alone plan a Big Lunch….
Don’t worry, the big idea here is for us to help you to help young people get involved with their neighbourhood Big Lunch, en route you can also achieve some of your own objectives, it needn't be astro physics…

E = mc²...Thanks Einstein but no…The + Big + Lunch = Loads of Learning + Lots of Fun

Everyone working with young people will have heard about Every Child Matters, by backing the Big Lunch, you’ll be achieving some of those outcomes. You can support children as they get outside and get healthy, you can help young people learn how to stay safe when exploring new places and getting to know new people; that’s what life and the Big Lunch is all about. All the different things kids can do for the big day will give them a huge sense of enjoyment and achievement. Above all, everyone who gets involved will be making a massive and positive contribution, to their street, to their community and to their wellbeing. Every child matters to this big idea.

And…for those of you who are teachers, you’ll be aware of the Community Cohesion Directive; the Big Lunch can help with those objectives too – taking part in the big day will encourage everyone to participate in their wider community, celebrate and understand the diversity on their doorstep and interact with the big wide world that sits in their own back yard.

This sounds like a big deal…

We know that teachers and youth workers are full to the brim with stuff to do with kids already so we’ve collated some ideas to make it easy as pie (whether you run cooking classes or teach maths!). It might be that you can adapt what you’re already doing and tie it in with the event. So below are a few suggestions of how to support young people as they begin to create delicious portions of loveliness or a few random acts of gastronomy.

And what about those risk assessments…

Obviously you all have your responsibilities to carry out due diligence. You will all have your own procedures to ensure young people's safety. Our suggestions will need tweaking depending on the age of your young people and it might be an idea to see if you can include peer mentors, young leaders or other adults to support your children as they take to their street.

The safety of our young people is extremely important. Whenever we try new things or meet new people there are always risks. If we’re aware of what those risks might be we can attempt to reduce them. The more we know about the place where we live, the safer we feel; the more people we know in the place where we live, the safer we are.

Some Little ideas for the Big Lunch

For starters - most of these ideas can begin in the classroom and grow as young people get out and about and get to know their street. All their findings, ideas, designs or makes can come back to the class or group for a large piece of work or individual projects. And for afters...each child can take a slice of whatever’s been cooked up and take it to the Big Lunch on Sunday 19th July 2009

Yes.. that’s the big day when we all sit down together, with the people in our street, on our street and tuck into a feast fit for a king – we hope the whole Kingdom will be joining in.

Cook up something creative

Could you…

Get your class or group to design a party hat or name badge for someone they know. Their design has to say 5 things about that person
Ask them to design or make something similar for the person next door or someone they’d like to get to know on their street. They might want to pop round, measure up, take a picture or do a little interview about the kind of party hat or badge their neighbour would like. The final hat would have to say 5 things about that person too
Ask the group to do a show and tell about their designs and the person they’ve made the hat or badge for
For the Big Lunch, young people can get together with friends or family to make hats or badges for everyone on their street. At the event, why not take photos of everyone

Big Lunch Bunting or Banners

Did you know, the biggest ever bunting string was made in American and measured over 1 mile long.
Why not…

Get your group to make a string of bunting listing their favourite memories, best ever party or their hopes for the future? These could include individual things as well as wishes for their community or the world. Their answers could be put onto paper triangles or other shapes to make a string of bunting. The end result could be used to decorate your centre or a be given as a gift to another group
Get your group to go home and find out hopes or special memories from the people in their neighbourhood; then make a flag or bunting triangle about each person or household
Once back together, the group can share their discoveries and what they’ve made
For the Big Lunch could they get folk in their street to help make some large flags or bunting for the big day?

Big Lunch Lyrics

The General Mills Company released the first ever singing commercial on Christmas Eve in 1926, the song was about “Wheaties” their own brand of breakfast cereal
Get your class to explore their favourite songs or advertising jingles. What makes a good tune? What makes a good lyric? What makes a good jingle? Could your group write the lyrics of a song or jingle that advertises the Big Lunch? How about a rap or song that talks about the people where they live
Get someone in from your local radio station to talk about good party songs and jingles. Perhaps they could judge a jingle competition?
Once your group have come up with a jingle or song, could they find out if someone in their neighbourhood plays an instrument or could help them create a piece of music to record or sing at their event
For the Big Lunch, why not sing or play a song to get the party going. Could your group get their radio jingle played on the local or community radio station?

Big Lunch Banners

Did you know that the first ever mass-produced posters started in the 1870s. Poster Art was pioneered by French artists Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Jules Chéret. They used litho printing as a way to mass produce their work

Why not…

Ask your young people to explore what their favourite poster adverts are, why do they like them, what makes them effective, what language do they use? Get them to write or design a poster campaign or even make a story board for an advert promoting world wide human warming or a future school event
Ask them to go home and make an advert or poster celebrating what’s great about their street or neighbourhood
Run a design competition and get someone from the local community to choose the most effective designs
For the Big Lunch, could they find out who’s running an event where they live and make a poster to help? Could they find out all the names of the families and people in their street and make some invites? Why not pop round to see a few people and ask if they’d put a poster in their window?

Community Cook Up

Did you know the most popular take away dishes in Great Britain are Fish and Chips and Indian Curry! Why not run a cookery session where your group invites some members of the local community to pop in for a meal?

Could you…

Get your group to cook a meal with locally sourced or local ingredients for another age group, class or local community group
Ask them to find a group, meet them and ask what they like to eat and then plan a menu
Ask them to find or create some simple recipes, get a shopping list together and work out how to source all the ingredients locally or from local shops. Next it’s time to cook the dishes and invite guests to come along and enjoy the meal
This activity could be useful practice for the Big Lunch, whatever they make could be something they can create again to take to the party. Look out Delia!

Tablecloth teasers

Create a table cloth with quiz questions, fun jokes or guessing games. You can buy plain paper table clothes from most supermarkets.

Why not…

Get your class or group to design a table cloth which includes cracker style jokes or fun quiz questions on a chosen topic to get conversation started
Get your group to go home and find 5 local facts and 5 quiz questions about their neighbourhood or local community for their table. Could they bring images, name that place questions, do a spot the difference with some old local photos?
Get the whole group to plan and design their tablecloths so that each place setting has some fun quiz questions or jokes. Get the group to set their own table around their design, have a lunch together and ask each other questions as they eat and drink
This is something young people could make for the Big Lunch, why not include get to know you questions, brain teasers or ice breaking activities to help people get to know their neighbours better on the big day

Who Are You and Where Were you Born?

According to the Office of National Statistics, Jack is still one of the most popular boys names, it’s been top of the list for years. The popularity of the girls name Leona has tripled since Leona Lewis made it on X-Factor! Could you…

Get everyone in your group or class, including you, to bring a photo in of themselves when they were young and find out from as many relatives as possible as many details as they can about their first few weeks of life or first birthday
Get your group to ask a neighbour for a photo of when they were younger, they then have to find out as much about that person's favourite ever party. What did they do, play, eat, sing? Perhaps your group could do this with an older community group nearby
Get your class put a map together of all the different people in the community and what they did on their special day?
Other people's memories and experiences may give your group some ideas of what games and party activities would be fun with all the different age groups who are at The Big Lunch

The Games We Used To Play

A generation ago 42% of children played outside in the street more than anywhere else, today over 62% of children play mostly indoors. How about getting your group to collate a compendium of games old and new that people can do outside, around the table or in the playground?

Why not…

Get your group to find out as many different games that can be played in the playground or around the dinner table. Next they have to write down directions for how to play the game or they could invent their own game
Get your group to talk to someone at least 3 times their age and write down all the different games they used to play, where they played them, who took part and list all the rules
Back as a group, put a book together of all the different kinds of indoor and outdoor games that can be played by all ages and during a power cut!
Some of these games could be used at the Big Lunch. This idea could also be used to make a song or joke book where young people list the songs and jokes people in their neighbourhood enjoy

Mapping the parish

Ask your class or group to take a photo or draw a picture of where they live, their house and the houses, flats or places nearby. They then write down what they know about their neighbours and start to create an information map of their neighbourhood
For homework, they have to fill in as many gaps as they can on their map. In groups, can they get out into their local area and get to know a few more people so they know someone in each shop or building in their community?
Back together the group could make a large map with all the images, information and pictures sharing what they know about the people in the local community
This is great preparation for the Big Lunch, getting to know your neighbours is what the big day is all about

Make a best day ever album

Everyone in the group has to pick a song or tune for someone else in the group and give reasons why they’ve chosen it
Next up, young people are asked to go home and find out as many favourite songs from all the different cultures, households and people where they live as they can. Next they have to put a track listing together with a map of their road showing which household plays what and why
For the Big Lunch they could put together a compilation CD or ask people in their street to bring their favourite music to the party

Party Planning Practice

Could your class or group get together and list all the things that make a good party and all the things that have to be done to make sure the event goes smoothly
At home, the group have to talk to people at least 3 times older than they are to find about the largest ever party or best ever event they remember. What happened? What made it special? What did they eat? Could they find out what local suppliers could be employed to help make a party or large event happen?
Back together, could your group design an event management plan for a special school or group event, leavers' ball or even their own Big Lunch street party
This experience could inspire individuals to work together to organise their own Big Lunch with their neighbours

Make a menu map

Each member of your group has to design their best ever lunch, what they’d eat, where it comes from, how it’s cooked and explain why they have chosen it
At home, the young people talk to as many neighbours as possible and ask them to share what their best ever lunch would consist of
Back together, could your group put a map of the neighbourhood together listing all the households by the food that they like to eat?
For the Big Lunch, young people could put together a menu guide or list some dish ideas that would be enjoyed by their street. This could give people an idea of what to cook for the big day

Sense of place, place mats and maps

Why not…

Get your class to make a place mat map. They have to draw a map of where they live and their favourite shops, places and where people they know live
For homework, could they fill in the gaps and find out 3 things about the people on their street and make their map even bigger
Back together, make a large scale map of the area sharing as much information about where, what and who they know in their neighbourhood
For the Big Lunch, could they design a series of street map place mats, each one sharing a little introduction about the people who will be there? Could people take photos and perhaps after the event add the pictures of all the people to where the live or work on the large map

GROWING STUFF

There’s loads of stuff for schools about growing stuff, here’s a link to a few websites and places where you can find out loads about how and what to grow in time for the Big Lunch, Sunday 19th July 2009.

Growing schools

This website shows teachers how to use the outside as place to teach and offers lots of ideas about what to grow, where and when. www.growingschools.org.uk

Garden Organic for schools

The Garden Organic for Schools project is a nationwide campaign which helps children grow vegetables at school and learn more about food.

RHS for schools

This part of the RHS website aims to inspire all schools to get gardening. It’s got lots of ideas of how schools can make the most of their school garden and share’s loads of case studies showing what other schools have created.